VIDALIA &8212; No new taxes, and nothing too alarming in the budget &8212; that&8217;s what the handful of non-school employees who attended Tuesday night&8217;s Concordia Parish schools public hearing heard.

After the hearing the school board approved continuing the same property tax levy they used last year, which is less than the maximum allowed by the state. They also approved $31,888,383 in expenditures from general and local special revenues, $42,267,624 from general and special revenue funds and $10,379,241 in other special revenue funds.

The new budget again includes local salary supplements for employees, a 13th check for employees and roughly $400,000 for new textbooks, among many other things.

No one in the audience commented on the tax or the new budget.

Board member Jerry Roberts asked what the district expects to gain from the new Wal-Mart. Business Manager Tom O&8217;Neal said it&8217;s something he&8217;s given thought to, but never really gotten a straight answer on.

&8220;I couldn&8217;t really get a feel for how much more sales they expect,&8221; O&8217;Neal said. &8220;But I believe we&8217;ll see some progression there.&8221;

In other business at the meeting the board approved awarding a construction contract to Wilmar Construction for work on a new roof at Ridgecrest Elementary. Wilmar submitted the lowest bid &8212; $605,400 for a base bid.

At the last meeting, board members decided to rebid the project because costs came in too high. O&8217;Neal said the new bids were still higher than he&8217;d like. The project includes work on the heating and cooling units. Currently, a small portion of the school is not heated.

&8220;Approximately it&8217;s $75 to 100,000 more than I would like to spend,&8221; he said. &8220;We have to provide some heat for these kids, and I don&8217;t know what we can do to make it cheaper.&8221;

The board debated the costs, but ultimately approved the project.

The board also voted to deny a teacher transfer already agreed upon by principals based on board policy. Jenny Guedon, who was hired to teach an enrichment class at Ferriday Upper Elementary School, was moved recently to Vidalia Lower Elementary to teach first-grade.

Several months ago the school board approved a policy that banned all teacher transfers out of Ferriday schools. The policy was the result of test scores in the schools and a low state ranking.

But Superintendent Kerry Laster said Tuesday that the FUES and VLES principals were both in favor of the transfer and had requested it. The teacher did not request to be moved.

&8220;This is not what we said we were going to do,&8221; board member Jimmy Wilkinson said.

And most other board members agreed.

&8220;Hold to what we voted on,&8221; Gary Parnham said. &8220;Rules are for everybody.&8221;Board member Martha Rabb voted against the motion to deny the transfer, saying the board needed to recognize the wishes of all involved and not disrupt two more classes once again.

The teacher will leave VLES and go back to FUES.